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Interview with Rockfish Data CEO

What has changed for one of the winners of the T Challenge Award 2024 since receiving the distinction? How Rockfish Data is developing, what are its plans for the future and how cooperation with Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile US has allowed it to reach a higher technological level - reveals the company's CEO, Dr. Muckai Girish.

“T Challenge has given us tremendous visibility”.

Next T Challenge Award is ahead of us, but let's take a step back. How has winning the 3rd place in 2024 impacted your growth and development since the competition?

Dr. Muckai Girish, Co-founder & CEO, Rockfish Data: To be honest, T Challenge has given us tremendous visibility. We are now working with Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile US as well as a number of network equipment vendors. This also reinforced our thesis on applications for overcoming data silos in multinational telecom environments.

Have the contacts you made during the T Challenge Award influenced the development of your company? If so, how?

Dr. Muckai Girish: It has been amazing getting to know and working with many distinguished people at both Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile US whom we met at T Challenge. For instance, the TDI team at DT as well as the SON team as part of the CTO organization at T-Mobile US. This has also helped to improve our use cases and product direction. Overcoming data silos for AI/ML workflows such as cross-border data sharing and developing more robust anomaly detection models are some key use cases.

How do you evaluate the cooperation with Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile US? What projects are you currently working on?

Dr. Muckai Girish: We have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Deutsche Telekom. We are currently doing proof-of-concepts with Telekom and TMUS. Being at T Challenge put us on the radar screen of many of the DT teams. For instance, Telekom initiated our nomination for the 4YFN award on Mobile World Congress, as we are one of the five finalists. I wouldn’t be possible without the impact that T Challenge brings to the table.

Would you recommend participating in our competition to other companies or startups that deal with AI in telecommunications?

Dr. Muckai Girish: We highly recommend participation in T Challenge. In fact, just a few weeks ago, a 2X founder asked my opinion and I gave them a resounding endorsement to apply. If you are planning to apply to this, please consider these: alignment with Telekom’s vision, plans and priorities for AI transformation; use cases that would show significant and immediate value to the stakeholders; and show your willingness and commitment to working hand-in-hand with this amazing global team.

Rockfish Data uses an AI platform with synthetic data to enhance network performance and security. Since AI develops so rapidly, does anything change with your approach as well?

Dr. Muckai Girish: Rockfish Data is the industry’s first outcome-centric synthetic data generation platform that helps companies unlock the true value of their operational data to tackle data silo bottlenecks. The need for synthetic data has increased significantly in the past year. We continue to address the needs in network performance and security and ensure that our platform can address the scale and performance expectations. Since T Challenge, we have made significant enhancements in our positioning and product. E.g., autoscaling methods, versatile data augmentation techniques as well as comprehensive synthetic data quality checks. We are witnessing a tectonic shift in how the telecom industry is adapting to the AI-first environment. Telcos have and continue to collect a treasure trove of data that can be leveraged for massive value to its customers – data is what is fuelling the AI revolution. This journey has just begun and the future is bright.

What are Rockfish Data's future plans and goals for the next two or three years, particularly in terms of expanding your platform's capabilities and market reach?

Dr. Muckai Girish: Rockfish Data is scaling its go-to-market endeavours and expanding its product development efforts. We see telecom and cybersecurity as key target markets. We also see Europe playing a significant role in adoption of AI in addition to the North American region. Working with Deutsche Telekom is a huge feather in our cap while we help Telekom see tremendous value in its AI transformation journey.

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